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Fairview to Cotage Fromage – 14min
Turn left out of Fairview. At the T-junction turn right on to the R101, Kraaifontein. After 600m turn left onto Simonsvlei Road and left again at the T-junction onto tar. At 11.5km turn into Vrede en Lust.
If you’re the kind of person who likes good food to come to you, rather than driving halfway round the countryside to find it, you’ll be in heaven at Cotage Fromage, a decadent deli and restaurant on the Vrede en Lust estate. Aside from a smorgasbord of between 50 and 60 local cheeses, along with the pick of olives and olive oils, you’ll battle to leave without stocking up on other delicious goodies that go with cheese, like chilli jams, pestos, pickled brinjals, orange roll and fig preserves. Cotage Fromage also gives you the opportunity to taste cheese and olive oils from estates that are either far off this route or aren’t generally open to the public, like delicious Dalewood Fromage or Vesuvio and Maradadi oils. The restaurant serves light meals (how about crumbed, deep-fried gorgonzola in a berry and biltong sauce?) in a lovely outdoor area with a jungle gym for the kids. |
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Cotage Fromage to Paarl – 20min
Cross railway line, at T-junction turn left onto the R45 Paarl. At 6km, T-junction right onto R101 Paarl. Choco-Deli is on the left at 10km.
Look out for De Oude Paarl boutique hotel in Paarl’s main street, for there you’ll find Choco-Deli, a wickedly delicious emporium devoted entirely to fine Belgian chocolate.
There are fresh deliveries every Wednesday, although the chocs have a perfectly respectable shelf life (but they are not likely to last that long at all). |
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Paarl to Hildenbrand – 20min
Continue along the main street as it doglegs right then left. At traffic lights (about 13.5km) turn right into Optenhorst Road to Wellington, Paarl East. Cross two bridges, at next lights turn left onto R301. As road curves left into Wellington (about 23.5km) turn right into Blouvlei Road, signed for Klein Rhebokskloof. Turn into Hildenbrand Wine and Olive Estate at about 28.5km – it’s easy to overshoot.
If ever you had a childhood fantasy of owning a farm when you grew up, it probably looked like Klein Rhebokskloof, home of Hildenbrand Wine and Olive Estate. A charmingly haphazard cluster of ancient Cape Dutch buildings set in beautiful gardens, it’s patrolled by five dogs, nine cats, some fearsome blue-eyed geese and a motley collection of farm animals and foundlings nurtured by owner, oil- and winemaker Reni Hildenbrand. Klein Rhebokskloof is the birthplace of the South African olive industry as the country’s first orchard for production was planted on this farm in 1893. Reni, after learning her skills in Tuscany, is now continuing the tradition, producing top quality cold-pressed extra virgin and the deeply desirable unpressed extra virgin olive oil, caught before the actual pressing process has begun. |
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Hildenbrand to La Masseria, via Bovlei and Rhebokskloof – 35min, excluding stops
Turn left out of Hildenbrand. At 2.8km T-junction right on R301. Bovlei is on the right at 4.6km. From Boveli, retrace your route into Wellington. T-junction left at the church. At about 9km, turn right at the traffic lights R44 Kaapstad (Cape Town) into Champagne Street. At about 18km turn left into Rhebokskloof, or continue straight on to about 27km, turn left into Suid-Agter Paarl Road. Turn left to Ruitersvlei and La Masseria after 300m. |
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Where next? The route finishes with more cheese for dinner, but before that there’s a chance to stock the home cellars at two wine estates offering great value-for-money wines.
Bovlei’s cellar is right on the road, offering a good range of easy drinking, quality wines.
The sun should be starting to turn the vineyards golden by now, making the drive to La Masseria even more scenic. En route stop at Rhebokskloof for wines suiting all tastes and pockets. The estate is set amid fruit orchards and vineyards and surrounded by fynbos. But be sure to get to La Masseria in time for sundowners before the party starts… |
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When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, you’re most likely to be happily singing along at La Masseria, the family-run Italian restaurant that’s now moved to Ruitersvlei farm on the Suid-Agter Paarl Road – there’s another one in Eversdal Cellars in Durbanville. Mother-and-daughter team Salomie and Delia Pacifico will make sure you fill up on a mouth-watering buffet of antipasto or home-made pastas from the menu, but do remember to save space for the cheese made by dad Donato at the cheese factory in Stellenbosch, which is also worth a visit, at Delvera Farm off the R44.
Actor Anthony Kampf (you’ll recognise his face from stage and screen) is on the guitar and working magic between the tables, so by the end of the evening, after rousing choruses of ‘That’s Amore’, ‘Buona Sera’ and ‘Volare’, the entire restaurant departs as new best friends.
Cheeses range from hard pecorino and monte, through feta to sweetmilk taleggio, pepper and chilli caseggios, award-winning mozzarella filone with heavenly dessert cheeses to finish. You must try the duetto dolce – mascarpone with preserved figs and walnuts. Be sure to book a table. |
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